and in about 40 minutes, we will focus on president obama's plans for creating new jobs, and the first meeting of the joint deficit reduction committee. our guest will be white house principal deputy press secretary josh earnest, democratic representative tim bishop, and representative lynn jenkins, a republican from kansas. >> to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. it will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, veterans, and more jobs for long-term unemployed. [applause] it will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working american and every small business. [applause] but it will provide a jolt to an

economy that is stalled and give companies confidence that if they invest and hire, there will be customers for their products and services. you should pass this jobs plan right away. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] host: described by reporters and editorial writers across the country as variously serious, and appealing, aggressiveness -- aggressive, passive, more the same, the president laid out a new plan that contains about $245 billion in tax cuts, $140 billion in construction funds and $62 billion to help the unemployed. and this morning in the "washington journal" we want to get your reaction to what the president had to say. the numbers are on the screen.

as always, you can reach us in a variety of ways, including twitter -- and on facebook where we have been receiving comments all night, you can continue the conversation. it is the lead story in all of the newspapers. here is how some of the newspapers are playing it. here is "the wall street journal" first.

that is their lead. this is "the washington post." they write president obama made an impassioned appeal thursday for tax cuts and government spending to boost the nation's lagging economic recovery, calling on lawmakers to put politics aside and work together to solve the jobs crisis. take -- sa today's"

"the new york times" this morning -- and in the story itself -- mixing politically moderate proposals with a pudgy tone, president obama challenge lawmakers thursday to pass his jobs bill, a blunt call on congress to enact his $447 billion package of tax cuts and new government spending designed to revive ace -- slowing economy and his own political standing. that is "the new york times" this morning. first up on our phone call, route from d.c., on the republican line. caller: normally i don't agree

with the spending, but the country is in deep trouble and they got to do something. i would prefer he would start something with the energy, a network out there for energy efficiency and make us a much more efficient country. but what i am looking at, i am listening to the debate on the republican side and what i am hearing from perry is nothing but more tax breaks. we are going under and these guys are talking about huge tax breaks and criticizing the funding for npr and stuff like that, which is $1 million a year. the well is being consolidated at the top and the less we stop this and start taxing the right people, and including myself, this ship is going down -- the wealth is being consolidated at the top. host: what did you think of the proposal last night? caller: i think the president's speech and plan hit it right on

the mark. i would like to see the republicans get off their seats and get involved 10 passed the plan the way he asked them to. he said the proposal is paid for. my member of congress, republican roscoe bartlett, who has not done much, i would like to see him get up and lead for once. host: "the new york times" has a related story --

president obama reiterated his call for a plan reducing long- term debt with both changes in entitlement programs and taxes from the wealthy. the next call comes from the independent line from nora. whoops, i apologize. go ahead. caller: it was right on point.

i think the republicans, the democrats, whoever, the people in the congress should get behind the president and move the country forward. the deficit is what it is, but the people out there are hurting. he said it. it was smart. good ideas and good investment for this country. and we will see what the congress will do. will they try to go along and help the country out or bagwell they sit on their behinds -- will they sit on their behinds? host: what specifically about the president's proposal did you support? caller: the helping of the long term employment people. the schools, the teachers. education is the foundation of this country. if you have an on educated population, you have an unworkable population -- if you

have an uneducated population. host: dave is a republican from michigan. caller: good morning. yes, the speech sunday -- contained a lot of deficit spending, just like obama always believed in. i am an engineer and i did the calculation of drilling 200 oilwells which, by the way, obama promised he would drill during the election. in anwar and the gulf, it it would be enough money to pay off the national debt in one year. why doesn't obama proposed that? just have the oil companies drill oil and the nation would not have any problem. that is my comment. host: the editorial director of huffingtonpost.com, this is his take. obama puts passion into jobs speech rarely seen in his

presidency. that is from aol-

huffingtonpost.com. sterling, virginia. caller: what i loved about the speech is he reminded us of how we got to be the great country that we are. we provided opportunities to the middle class that and not only allowed us to grow as human beings but grow our economy. and what i see happening or what i worry about the outcome of this speech is that the republicans in their thirst for power of all will continue this bill is topical -- philosophical divide it based -- based on not taxing the rich because they are job creators, which is false. i think the biggest danger, i think a lot of the proposals

were very moderate proposals on the table that republicans have put forward in the past and they are ones that can bring us together, harkening back to his speech in 2004 at the democratic convention, that we can be a country that is not split red and blue, but the danger is that the republicans, the right wing, want the power back at any cost. host: here is a little bit more from the president's last night. >> the american jobs act will repair and modernize at least 35,000 schools. it will put people to work right now fixing roofs and windows, installing science labs and high-speed internet in classrooms all across this country. it will rehabilitate homes and businesses and communities hit hardest by foreclosures. it will jump start thousands of transportation projects all across the country. and to make sure the money is properly spent, we are building

on reforms we have already put in place. no more earmarks, no more boondoggles, no more bridges to know where -- nowhere. we are cutting the red tape and we will set up an independent fund to attract private dollars and issue loans based on two criteria -- how badly a construction project is needed and how much good it will do for the e economy. host: our c-span facebook page, if you want to make a comment. a good way to continue the conversation. we have had 500 comments since last night. here are a couple of them. roger writes -- miriam writes --

larry says -- the next call comes from phil from illinois. caller: he always gives great speeches but the president is full of hot air. where is he going to get the funds? he did not mention how he is going to pay for this. where is the money at? the other thing i unfairly against is our children, all of our children, the soldiers overseas, bring them home, all of them. that is $2.10 trillion a year. then you put them on the borders and railroad stations to secure the country. and to add more security, load up on our aircraft carriers with nuclear missiles and put them out to the coastlines and a free waters. that is how you will protect us. this guy is nothing but a phony no good bum.

he does not belong in all this and neither do any of the representatives in the gop. who is there? huntsman at least was a decent speaker and so is ron paul. but they are building up rick perry. i knew they were building him up just by listening to msnbc. host: walter is a republican from south carolina. caller: i thought the speech was well delivered but i thought it was basically the same old story basically. like the previous caller said, there is no way to pay for this. he said the republicans up to lose anyway. if they vote for it they are voting for something they don't believe in and if they don't vote for it looks like they are again not cooperating. the republicans are kind of on the fence and the obama -- and obama put them that way with this well-delivered speech but it is still more of the same,

stuff that doesn't work. and if it is modified some, i think it may be approved if it is modified some. thank you. host: thank you for calling in this morning. from the c-span website -- " obama takes jobs plan on the road." that is from the c-span website. here in the suburbs, silver spring, maryland. mark on the independent line. what did you think of the president that the proposal. caller: i actually liked it and i thought the interesting thing was he was actually trying to mend the great divide, because he was providing tax incentives as well as speaking to the democratic side of the aisle in saying that medicare and medicaid has to be adjusted.

i think both things are important. i think the most important thing is getting liquidity in our economy immediately. and the best way for this white house and the congress to do that is to work with the banks on refinancing mortgages, particularly for those people in this bad climate. if you do that, that is immediate money that goes into our economy because homeowners would be paying less for their mortgages each month. that is key. unless there is another industry that our economy has and that can be created to parallel housing, then we are running in place because we don't have that industry is why people are out of work and you need people to be able to spend money so that businesses can grow. host: from "the wall street

journal" this morning -- "dob candidates the sale fed chief -- gop candidates assail fed chief" -- ben bernanke spoke in minneapolis yesterday. >> there is ample room for debate about the opprobrious size and role of the government in the longer run. but in the absence of aggregate demand from the private sector,

a substantial fiscal consolidation in the shorter term could add to the head once facing economic growth and hiring. host: here is "the new york times" business section this morning. george is a republican from houston, texas. caller: obama calls for action, immediate action. and i completely agree. he needs to either resign or may need to impeach him. the man's entire agenda is to either destroy the united states and violate the constitution in any manner he can. the solution to the problems is to get rid of obama as soon as possible. host: carl is a democrat from chicago. caller: how are you doing, peter? very shrewd.

timing and place where he did it, he actually showed -- he called them out, the republican party, in an event that is nationalized. he helped bring in a deed to his side. if you had a previous caller -- yes, it does put the republicans on the spot. the public wants some kind of action taken. people want jobs. they are concerned right now. we want jobs. if you watched the speech, you will see that he is talking and you will see the republican sitting there like it, what are we going to do, or we are not going to do anything. i think it was great. i will admit, this was somewhat

of a political thing for his campaign re-election. but i think it was very shrewd. the proposals, it was spending. if it doesn't work, the people who are going to run against him, this is a form of tax cuts, so if it doesn't work you can say -- you can't hold it against him. host: thanks for calling in this morning. just a two-hour "washington journal" this morning. the house is coming in at 9:00 a.m. and we will have members of congress, representatives of the white house on as we take your calls. both hours are focused on president obama's $447 billion jobs proposal that he outlined last night. "the wall street journal" --

stock is in big sandy, texas, on the republican line -- scott. caller: it is more of the same failed keynesian economics. there is a great book on the subject that have been out a little bit over a year called "the forgotten man." explains how government spending did not work for fdr, it did not work for the japanese and their

lost decade, it did not work for obama the first round, and here he goes trying it again. it is a total, absolute failure. it will never work. if he wants to do something to get the economy rolling, take the moratorium off of energy production. that would be immediate jobs and good jobs. develop our own resources, and let's get this economy going. but he has no intention of doing that. i believe -- and i didn't want to believe this about this president -- but i don't think you can make these kinds of mistakes accidentally over and over. i believe it is intentional. i believe the man is a traitor. host: here are some specifics about the president's $447 billion job creation proposals. it extends employee tax cuts to

3.1% for all workers in 2012. it reduces employer payroll taxes to 3.1%. $30 billion is in there to modernize public schools. $50 billion for modernizing roads and bridges. and $35 billion in aid to state and local governments. kathy in arizona. independent line. caller: hello? yes. i would like to say i do approve of president obama. i am sorry he has gotten so much flak from his own party and the republican party. what proposals to the republican party have? i am sorry. they are fighting within themselves. they have no answer, either. host: all right, cathy. thank you. just to let you know, this is

from the bureau of labor statistics. there are currently nine states, and washington, d.c., with unemployment rates above 10%. the state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, nevada, 12.9%, california, 12%, south carolina and michigan, 10.9%, and rhode island at 10.8%. the national average, 9.1% right now. our next call comes from hawaii. based on the republican mind. what did you think of the president's speech? caller: basically a couple of comments. a first of all, the tax cuts, i think, is a step in the right direction. but i would like to make a comment about the person who wrote the article in "the new york times" and continuously characterize as social security

as an entitlement program. i am a little sick and tired of hearing that. it is not an entitlement. i am a retiree. i paid him money, my employer paid in money and the money belongs to the people who paid its in and -- it in and should have been put in trust years ago. the other comment i want to make is about the energy program. the comments that have been made about developing an edgy, opening up and the regulating -- deregulating, a lot of the mining operations, there is a bipartisan western caucus to develop mining operations for copper and other minerals. that alone could provide a number of valuable jobs and revenue from the jobs that would help resolve this budget issue. host: a couple of viewers, republican viewers, mentioned that the energy issue. here was just landry, a

republican of louisiana, in the chamber -- jeff. here is the sign he was holding. you can see it in there. the accompanying article, this is from "the washington post."

last night just outside the house chamber, c-span was getting reaction from members of congress. republican from washington state and other leadership stopped by. >> it is most important we are focusing on jobs and the fact that he came to congress, delivered the speech, i think will help refocus us all on what it will take to get americans back to work. disappointed that so much of the speech was focused on more pro- government, big government policies, when i think we need to have more pro-growth policies and really look at the barriers

to creating jobs. host: next on our democrats' line is pat from colorado city, colorado. caller: i support this president. and i want people to know that the republicans are more afraid of the tea party van de arkansas of unemployed people -- then they are of unemployed people. we should stand together because our forefathers started out on nothing. i don't understand why it is so hard for us to work together, because of the fact that you got to stop and think. their kids don't go to public school. we set these people up and they don't care about the rest of us now. all i am asking is for them to give this man a chance. thank you. host: thank you for calling in this morning. from lagrange, indiana. tim on the independent line. what did you think of the proposal? caller: actually, he had a lot of good points. listening to everybody this

morning, it kind of points out the problem. either to the left or to the right. we need to come together. there is a place, a role for the federal government. we are the united states. it was proposals from the federal government that built the great bands like the hoover dam under eisenhower, a republican -- the great dams. the federal highway system, we pay for that with a small tax on gas. there is a place. we need to put teachers back to work. everybody knows that states cannot independently print money. it has to come from the federal government. that is what makes us the united states of america. everything that is going on -- i had a son who works in construction, building houses. he is unemployed. i had a daughter who is

disabled, with down syndrome, so medicare and social security affects me. my parents are retired. all of this affects me. we have to come together as a country and do something. the private sector is growing. the government is shrinking. that is kind of what is bringing us down. we just have to stabilize it. so, i really hope that all of the people will listen out there really kind of put their partisanship aside and come together. that is what we need to do. host: what is the economy like ian lagrange right now? caller: it is slowly coming back. we've were really heavily hit when the recession came on. the next county over is where the president came right after

being elected and spoke. the unemployment rate there was 19% or 20%, and it is slowly motor back with rv's, homes. host: are those factories ramping back up? caller: they are starting. it is slowly but surely. as the economy comes back, people will start buying recreational vehicles, buying new homes that are put together in a factory. it is slowly coming back. it is still not good. but it is really representative of the what is going on out there -- representative of what is going on out there. everybody has to have patience. we didn't get to this point in a

year. there's a lot going on. we will get through it. host: all right, thanks for calling in this morning. again, for this two-hour "washington journal" we are getting your reaction. we will be talking to guests -- members of congress, representatives of the white house about the president's jobs plan that he introduced last night. "the washington post" breaks it down a little bit. here is how they break it down.

newcastle, pennsylvania. shirley on the republican line. what did you think about what the president had to say? caller: good morning. i just feel that the president doesn't get it. our country is in such a turmoil. we need jobs. and all he talked about was spending money. it is just more rhetoric. where is he getting this money? you know, in order to run a home you have to have money and you

don't spend what you don't have. if it is not there in the checking account, you cannot spend it. why does this president keep talking about spending money? as far as i am concerned, what he said last night, it is not going to help a bit because we don't have the money. where is he getting this money from? host: from the u.s. labor department, here are more statistics about america's employment situation. 14 million people are currently unemployed while 139 million have jobs. the unemployment rate for women, 8%, 9% for men and 16% is the unemployment rate for african- americans.

-is an independent from california. caller: a couple of comments. as far as the speech last night, i really just sort of glaze over. i kind of thought, same old, same old. i will give the president props, he is a great campaigner and a great speechmaker. he is just not a good administrator and he really was not qualify for the job. i also will admit i completely drink the " late in the first time but i am surprised at how many people are willing to drink the kool-aid again. clearly is not qualified. he did not create the problem but he -- it got in miserably -- immeasurably worse. to say do exactly what you did before and we will buy into it is crazy. listening to the speech -- i listened to it twice. to me, the most telling thing

was, clearly understands the country is not going on -- along with his very liberal agenda as we did during the 2008 election, because he would not have changed so much to go toward kind of the other side. and my second point is, i am not sure -- you know, i don't know about this do nothing congress, not a very original idea, first of all. it seems to me when the republicans present a plan that he vetoes right away, that is not not cooperating. when people like the crazy union guy says very uncivil comments, nobody jumps up and down. so i really do not think this president has clean hands in terms of trying to work across the aisle. but mostly i am confused about the public will in to buy into this same -- host: we will leave it there. here is a little bit more from president obama last night. >> everyone here knows we have

badly decaying roads and bridges all over the country. our highways are clogged with traffic. our skies are the most congested in the world. it is an outrage. building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us an economic superpower. and now we are going to sit back and watch china build new airports and faster railroads? at a time when millions of unemployed construction workers can build them in america? host: here is "the washington post" editorial about last night's speech.

albany, new york. it, and our democrats' line. what did you think about the president's speech -- tom on our democrats' line. caller: i think it makes sense but we have to understand the context, and that is for all of the speeches on either side of the aisle, it is a question of how much control we actually have to create jobs. i understand infrastructure is

crumbling, but those jobs led bridge repair and road building, those are fairly finite jobs. the kind of jobs we should be created are jobs that have an after life, if you will, once the initial training period is over. during world war ii we had 7 million to 8 million machinists in this country but as of the 1990 census we had fewer than 100,000 left in this nation. and those are people who design, build, prototype everything that we use, from cars to toothbrushes. those are the kinds of jobs that would be sustainable. but you really have to question how much sustainability there is. and there is no detail about what these jobs will entail. you can hire all the people you want to work in mcdonald's. just look at the state of texas. but that does not really do anything to sustain or put any

forward momentum as far as a leadership role for the united states in the world economy. host: "usa today" editorial this morning. jobs planned date jabots -- jobs plan deja vu.

that is "usa today" this morning. george is a republican from charleston, south carolina. george? caller: i am here. i am a retired chief master sergeant in the air force. i want the world to know -- i have been around the world five times -- and that everybody in the world saying the only reason why the republicans and the tea party are against this president is because of his color. if the republicans that helped president obama -- have helped president obama 1 inch last year we would not be in this situation right now. they deny and say no to

everything. he is the first african-american president. he has only been in office three years, if that. you have had presidents for 200 years or 100 years for this country and this country was in a bad economy state when he took office. you can't expect the man to turn the whole thing around in three years. at least he stopped the millions of jobs hemorrhaging. i think if he wasn't black, he would have been a good president. that is the reason why he is -- they are denying him is because of color. thank you. host: the next call is from sue, independent from delray beach, florida. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to agree not what the caller prior to mind of the one before. my concern -- i did vote for the president and will do it again. my concern is the unemployed.

i was laid off the first year the economy was bad in florida, in 2007. then i got picked up and laid off again. got my job back and then laid off again. to be honest, i am not accepting unemployment. i did take a retell position that pays less. democrats who said on their behinds and except unemployment -- there are major retailers that are hiring and i wish it would go out and do that. i do not have my certificate in florida. i am working at a major retailer. it is full time but the money is less. i plan on spending that money to go and get my certificate. there are jobs out there. yes, they are not as much as you were making but do not sit on your behind and collect

unemployment. there are plenty of jobs out there. and if you don't have the education, go get it. there are plenty of grants. i will support the president again. yes, we need roads and bridges. i am not thrilled about the tax cuts. and i wish everybody would get off of their cows and go apply anywhere. there are tons of jobs. they are not much but it is something so you can get your education. host: now joining us from the north lawn of the white house is josh earnest. we have been listening to our callers this morning. it basically two schools of thought, or three schools of thought. number one, it is not going to have an impact. number two, more of the same. no. 3, we need to do something. what is your reaction to those various thoughts? guest: i think the reactions are entirely reasonable. i think the proof is in the pudding. the president laid out a very

clear bipartisan plan that should earn bipartisan support in the congress. i do think that what everybody would agree on is the government needs to do more to support the private sector, to support our economy and try to create jobs and support the middle-class. this is a key part. what the president did last night is like out a specific plan -- tax benefits, tax cuts to small businesses, he extended the payroll tax cut and brought into it so that more middle-class families will have more money in their pockets next year. and he laid out a specific plan to try to put more construction workers back to work building, upgrading, and modernizing the infrastructure. this is a multifaceted plan to put people back to work. but at the end of the day this is an effort to support the private sector. the private sector will lead this recovery, but the government needs to act in a bipartisan fashion to get this done.

host: a lot of the newspaper editorials this morning that were critical of the president's plan are asking where is the money going to come from. that it is also but facebook comments -- that is also the facebook, as we are getting. guest: he will release a specific plan to the super committee charged with finding additional $1.50 trillion in deficit reduction. the president will lay out a plan where they can go far beyond that mandates. the president thinks we need to get our deficit situation under control. so, by going beyond the $1.50 trillion deficit reduction, we cannot only do more to address our debt and deficit but also that we pay for the american jobs act. host: josh earnest is the principal deputy press secretary to the president. north carolina. line. the democrats' caller: thank you for taking my call.

i think the president did a great job setting up the plan last night with his speech. but we all know you have to be very the line to not see -- blind to not see that corporate america claims the jobs. they are sitting on billions of dollars of profits. and we know that the majority of the republicans -- they are going to do anything that they can to keep the unemployment rate around 9%. they mentioned it when president

obama was first elected. that is what they have been keying on ever since. guest: i appreciate your call. here is what i would say. obviously the government will put in place -- it is the president possibly that in washington elected official should put in place policies to support the private sector to get the economy moving. it does not mean we can dictate what they should do but we can put in place government policies that would give them incentives to do the right thing. that why we put in place a tax cut for small businesses to give them incentives to hire. and his support behind a bipartisan plan for an infrastructure bank, for seed money to leverage significant private sector investment to modernize infrastructure. this would put all lot of construction workers right now that are out of work back to work. this is all part of a multifaceted plan to put people back to work.

one other piece that is also important. the other part of the plan was to provide additional support to state and local of governments -- local governments so they are not in a position where they have to continue to lay off teachers and firefighters. not only are the layoffs of that for those communities that have now your firefighters and police officers and teachers, but also bad for the economy. few were middle-class families getting a solid paycheck. so, this is a multifaceted plan, but it is focused on individuals and putting them back to work to strengthen the economy. host: josh earnest, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell called it the kickoff for the president's reelection campaign. what is your response? guest: a key part of the president's speech in last night was his urging to both democrats and republicans to not wait until the next election. the next election is not until

another 14 months. the president believes it is time for democrats and republicans to put politics aside and act now. injecting politics and is very difficult situation makes things worse. it is crystal clear from what happened over the course of the summer. what the president did yesterday was, in a spirit of bipartisanship, offered up some bipartisan plans that deserve a bipartisan support and urged congress to put aside politics in the interest of the country first and act now to pass the american jobs act. host: what are we going to get from the president today in richmond? guest: it will be the first opportunity is driven to travel outside washington, d.c., to talk to people outside the beltway about what the plan mean-spirited and specifically about how this -- what the plan means. and specifically how this will put firefighters and police back to work, how it benefits small- business is to give them incentives to hire more workers. what the president is interested

in doing is explaining and highlighting to the american people how it policy like the one he laid out yesterday will affect the lives of individual americans and communities across the country. host: south carolina. mac on the republican line. go ahead with your comment. guest: good morning, mac. host: are you with us? josh, you don't get a chance to talk to another view or this morning. and a republican at that. in light of that, let me get your response to the first opening paragraph in "the wall street journal" editorial this morning. the latest jobs plan has a signature flawed -- flaw --

guest: welcome i had two reactions. the president was christo -- crystal clear about the fact that he believes the private sector will lead this recovery. that means elected officials have a choice. they can either pursue a partisan agenda that will have a detrimental effect on our economy and people looking for a job, or government leaders and the politics aside and elected officials can do what they were elected to do, which is to put in place policies that would support the private sector and support the economic recovery, support small business, support big business, support workers, support unemployed people looking for work, support teachers, construction workers who are eager to get back to work building infrastructure. it is a pretty clear choice. the president is choosing the latter, to put politics aside and focus on bipartisan proposals.

the second thing is, the president was not just putting out one-off proposals but a long-term strategy to put our economy on stronger footing. he said many times over the course of the next two and a half years that our country can't afford to continue to go through the boom and bust, boom and bust cycle. that is having a terrible effect on communities across the country, and particularly on workers that are subject to the whim of a volatile economy. what we need to do is we need to invest in the kinds of jobs and economy growing industries in the future. the president has spent a lot of time the past two and a half years making important investments in clean energy. the president reference the united states used to have the best airports and railways and highways in the world. but now we go to china you look and see that countries in china and europe have these gleaming new airports, new high-tech, high speed trains. these are the kinds of things we

can do here in america. we have construction workers to do it, we have the know-how and the will and the innovative spirit to do it. all we need to do is we need to put the proper conditions in place so that we can make those kinds of advancements. that is what the president's strategy is all about. there is no reason this should not its strong bipartisan support. host: josh earnest, before we let you go there have been reports about credible terrorist threats to the u.s. -- new york and washington. any comments? guest: i can tell you the president was briefed about this a couple of times yesterday. i can tell you in the last four or five months, senior counterterrorism and homeland security officials here at the white house throughout the obama administration have been gathering for regular meetings to talk about the need to prepare, to ensure the homeland security and bands of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

al qaeda in the past articulated an interest. it will capitalize on these kinds of dates. we know from some of the intelligence from the osama bin laden compound that this was something of particular interest to bin laden. this is something we remain vigilant -- vigilant about. we are in close coordination of what state and local officials to assure they are prepared. this is something i am sure you and your viewers -- i can assure you and of yours it has the full attention for those in the obama administration. host: josh earnest, thanks for joining us from the north lawn of the white house. as we mentioned earlier, the president will be in richmond, virginia, to make a speech at the university of richmond regarding his jobs proposal. on sunday, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the president will be in new york city, pennsylvania, he will be at the pentagon, and then there is an evening service at the kennedy center in washington, d.c.,

where he will also be making remarks. you can see a lot of that on c- span. keep an eye on c-span.org if you want to know the full schedule of our 9/11 10th anniversary coverage. we also kickoff a new series tonight called "the contenders." live from lexington, kentucky, the state of henry clay who three times was nominated for president of the united states. this is a new series. it is going to be alive for the next 14 friday night, 8:00 p.m. we will look at folks like william jennings bryan and adlai stevenson and george wallace and hoover humphrey. a live -- live call-in programs beginning tonight at 8:00 eastern. tonight is henry clay. we are pleased to be joined by

congressman from new york, a democrat, who serves on the education committee and infrastructure committee. two of the president's proposals last night greatly affect your two committees -- education spending and infrastructure spending. congressman bishop, what did you think? guest: i thought the proposals were good proposals, practical proposals. they have at least a shot of passing the house of representatives. and i also think they have the potential to put people back to work and to try to get our economy growing again. in general, i was pleased with the proposals. host: "the wall street journal" you heard me reading, trying to manipulate a $15 trillion economy with a $447 billion stimulus package, and where does the money come from? guest: the second part first. the president indicated last night that the money would come

from increasing the mandate for spending reductions or deficit reductions of the special deficit reduction committee. he also indicated that a week from monday he is going to present his own detailed plan for what those reductions ought to look like. i think we all await that plan and want to study the details of that. with respect to the size of the package, it is roughly -- since most of it would be spent out over one year -- it is roughly the equivalent of the recovery act that was passed in february of 2009. that most mainstream economists indicate has had an impact of at least growing the economy in some measure and maintaining a workforce. the congressional budget office, for example, indicated that they believe that at least 1.8 million more people are employed as a result of the recovery act

then had we not pass it. but again, i guess what i would ask is, what is the alternative? it government intervention of the type that the president outlined last night is viewed as some as unacceptable, what is the alternative? how do how do we take the 25 million americans and improved their status? what we have seen in the house from the republicans is an agenda that is comprised exclusively of either eliminating regulations or blocking regulations that are proposed. i would have to ask the question of how does changing policy on eight or 10 regulations, how does that move the $15 trillion economy?

host: hear the phone numbers. tim bishop, a democrat from new york is our guest and has spent a long time in higher education as a career. some of the commentary this morning has taken this tact -- obama demands of congress do something. host: he says the president is

blending congress. guest: congress does need to act. i am in the house. the republicans have been responsible for the agenda since january. the have not brought a single bill to the floor to address the jobs crisis. their agenda the have articulated for the fall in terms of eric cantor's memorandum iconsists of eliminating or blocking regulation. but i do think it is time for the congress to act. faa reauthorization it is expiring in september. this is september 9.

host: our hearings scheduled for those bills? guest: not to my knowledge. we have not seen a surface transportation bill. we've been told the surface transportation bill will be roughly $35 billion a year. set that against a five-year bill. we would be moving from spending $50 billion on surface transportation to approximately $35 billion a year. we have not seen anything. in new york, the estimate is that would cause the layoffs of 21,000 construction workers in new york. about 400,000 nationally. that to me is not a vision that moves this country forward. i was pleased to hear the

president talked about a renewed investment in infrastructure. host: kathy honor a democrats line -- kathy on our democrat line. caller: i called about the previous topic, about obama. my opinion about obama's in decision -- i am emotional about this. it is difficult for me. i think that obama -- i voted for him. i believed in him. i believe in all that. i do not see him taking the bully pulpit. several hundred thousand people were killed. i do not see obama -- i did not

want him to kill hundreds of thousands of people, of course. i do not see him having that kind of faith and i'm wondering what is causing him not to have that power. guest: this is a time for presidential leadership and that is what we saw last night. we saw the president laid out a clear plan, an ambitious plan, and we for the president say he is going to, starting today, go to every corner of this country to sell it. that is the kind of leadership we need. the president, when he comes forward next monday or whenever with his specific deficit reduction ideas, that also is the kind of presidential leadership that we need. all we heard last night was the president responded to what the

american people say is their greatest concern, and that is the faltering state of the economy and that we have so many people who are unemployed or underemployed. the president needs to be commended for facing that head on and making a set of proposals that have the potential to have an impact. host: what was the chatter before and afterwards? guest: before the speech, there was a concern that the proposals would not be sufficiently ambitious and would not be sufficiently aggressive. after the speech, i think in terms of the people i've spoken with, we're pretty pleased. any reasonable person could look at any part of that speech and say he should have done this or that. but in general, the package of

tax cuts and investment in things like infrastructure and rebuilding schools and putting teachers back to work, we all agree that that represents a pretty reasonable package. it also represents the thinking of most mainstream economists. they say will we need are measures that will stimulate spending in the short term, the tax cuts, and measures that will bring about long term reduction of our deficit, which the president will present to was a week from monday. we need measures that will prevent further layoffs. we have lost 500,000 public sector employees, and has been a significant drag on our economic recovery. that is an economic drag and i

think we have to ask whether that is the wisest way in which we allocate our resources. in general, the democrats i was sitting with last night and i spoke with were pretty pleased with the speech. host: bloomington, illinois. caller: good morning, gentlemen. to me, the president sounded like newt gingrich. he wants to take money from social security and from medicare and wants to use that to stimulate the economy. that is the old philosophy in a nutshell. the problem is i don't think it will work. once the stimulus is gone, we will be losing jobs again. i did not think that is a solution. politically, in my appeal to some independents.

but i don't think it will work. guest: i will take a different tack. i don't think he it was talking about starving tehe beef. and he did not mention social security at all. the devil is in the details. medicare in its current form will be difficult to sustain, given the rapid growth of health care cost and the rapid growth in the retirement age population. reasonable people have to recognize that we have to look at medicare and we have to look at medicaid. the other issue is -- what the president said is that the government can play a role. the recovery has to be driven by the private sector. the speech was about giving some

tools to the private sector to facilitate that process. host: from one of your home town newspapers, "the new york post." he was not there to cheer the new jobs plan. guest: one, i think the president made clear and most people agree that we have to

take a careful look at our regulatory structure. the president announced that back in january. he talked about several hundred regulations that have been changed or modified or eliminated. and i think we have to be careful. we should not paint with too broad a brush. certain regulations serve a public good. there are regulations that we have to take a careful look at. i read very carefully the memorandum by eric cantor about the 10th most egregious regulations in their proposed or currently enacted. if we eliminated everyone of them, it would not create a single job in my district. a regulatory reform has to be a piece of what we do.

we have to recognize that one of the reasons we're in a crisis that we're in is that regulators walked off the field with respect to the financial crisis 2008.7 and it helped bring about the crisis we are facing right now. we have unemployment of around 7%. we're doing better than the country. but still 7% is too high in my view. we are the eastern end of long island. we have a lot of small businesses. a lot of the economic business is tourism and travel and farming and fishing. we have several hundred miles of coastline. i would say in our district, one of the things that is people

great concern is when they hear leadership in washington talking about walking away from environmental regulations. people recognize that the job creator is the environment. in our district, you don't have a second home industry unless you have a good environment. you need clean beaches and clean air and open space. when my constituents hear about walking away from environmental regulations, they are concerned about that. it is those regulations that are a part of the underpinning of our economy. host: minnesota, you're on. caller: good morning, america. how long have you been in congress? guest: this is my ninth year.

i am on the education committee and on the transportation committee. caller: here's my question. education has been going down the pipes for year. you cannot take it from 24th to 2nd in the world. there was the dodd-frank bill that was supposed to help -- you are talking about leadership and regulation. the dodd-frank built ignored all the derivatives. we also had -- the dodd-frank bill ignored all the prederivatives. all these regulations should have been looked that. he should pursue the regulations we already have. guest: that was one of my

points. regulators walked off the field and did not enforce the regulations we had in place. it was not fair to blame secretary geithner for the kind of irresponsible behavior that took place on wall street at the height of -- the financial activity. with respect to education, the thing that i focus on is access to higher education. there two statistics that plague me. we have fallen from first to sixth in the world in the number of high school graduates that go onto college. that number does not argue for a favorable future with respect to

our ability to compete in a global marketplace. that is one of the reasons i have been as focused on maintaining the pell grants and a strong level to assist students. the president has also been concerned about the telegratellt maximum -- pell grant maximum. >> if charges this congress to come up with $1.5 trillion in savings out by christmas. i'm asking you to increase that amount. i will be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan a week from monday. stabilize our debt in the long run. host: back to your calls. susan from indiana. caller: there is no bill,

nothing to vote on yet because this is just so for a speech and we have no idea what is going to be in the bill. they should get warren buffett and his friends to pay for it. open an account. they should be able to pay for it. it took three years for him to recognize that small business gets the job done, not government. guest: there is no bill. you're quite right. the devil is always in the details. we deceive the specifics, the legislative language -- we need to see the specifics. with respect to generating revenue, i think the very best

way we can generate additional revenue is to put 14 million people back to work. the best way to rein in our deficit and for us to increase our economic activity is to reduce the number of people who are unemployed and underemployed. i am hopeful this plan will be a start of the effort to do that. host: did the white house reach out to house democrats prior to the speech? guest: not that i'm aware of. they may have reached out to the leadership. not to members of the rank-and- file. we were given the text of the speech when we got into the chamber last night. there was some additional detail that was distributed to our offices while the speech was going on.

there was no advance effort about talking points. host: how would you describe your relationship with the white house? guest: it is cordial. there are pieces of the white house's agenda that i did not subscribed to, but others i enthusiastically support. host: talking about the president's job proposal last night. green bay, wisconsin. hi, liz. caller: hi. i would like to find out the names of the senators and congressmen who were not standing and applauding our presidents's comments. americans are waiting for something to happen. i would like to say that it is one thing to get people back to

work. it is another to get them back to work at jobs that are meaningful and productive and support a good lifestyle. education is key to that. i'm kind of radical in my thinking. i would like to stop unemployment benefits. people would be more motivated to go out and to move on. no one talked about the talk that the president gave to the labor unions. i believe that it is what the unions have done for wages and rights in this country that have kept the standard of living up for many years for the rest of the middle class. here in wisconsin, it has been a huge, huge issue. hopefully the next time we go to the polls we will bring in more democratic constituency and

repeal some of the things that have been happening with the labor unions. host: what kind of work do you do in green bay? caller: the economy is pretty good. i work in a national retail company in sales. we have seen a decline over the summer as people are more nervous about investing in their homes. i would like to see that turnaround. one of the deregulations of the banking industry is a big reason we're in the mess we're in right now. i like to see that turnaround. guest: i thought the, the president made that we do not have 14 months to make was one of the most important comments of his speech. it goes to the heart of one of the issues, which is whether or

not a political consideration is affecting people's policy judgment. i think what the president was saying was we need to act on behalf of the american people in respective of were the lay.ctive fall outmout may liz talk about stopping unemployment. she leaned that to education. there is a long track record of higher education involvement being countercyclical to the economy. when the economy is bad, a higher education enrollment grow because people return to school to get the training they need to get jobs. some of what liz hopes what happened has been happening for a long time. the unemployment piece -- most economists say that the single

most stimulus think we can do is continue to unemployment benefits. if you put money in the hands of people who have no other means of support, they will spend it on the everyday necessities of life and the will keep economic activity going. keeping unemployment compensation available to people who are unemployed is something that we must do. host: you spent 29 years in southampton college. the president called for a summer job funds. what has been your experience with a federally funded summer jobs? guest: at one. at southampton college, there was a program and it was in the late 1970's, and we employed

several people under that and they worked hard. when the funds expired, many were able to be added to our permanent payroll. in terms of the summer jobs program, we did not have any experience administering one of those. we have several summer academic sessions and we employed some students to help with that. but we didn't have a direct summer jobs program. host: eric from florida. caller: my biggest complaint without obama is dealing with stuff is he is acting like robin hood. he likes to still from the rich and give to the poor. the people that have money and have the ability to create new jobs are going to get punished for being good at what they do. give money to the poor -- people

on welfare -- there needs to be nationwide thing with drug testing. we give people money and they turn around and get drugs. i see this in florida all the time. that is the thing. as far as the jobs obama is trying to get us, they are all minimum-wage jobs. "we save the environment." no, we didn't. we need to get better-paying jobs and do a tax break for american manufacturers and american companies and to a tariff on any kinds of imports. guest: i didn't take from the speech to what the president

intentioned is to still from the rich and give to the poor. the tax break that the president proposes is one that would affect every single american worker. that is the kind of broad base tax breaks that can be helpful. i would say that he is trying and there has been an effort to try to provide some tax relief to our small businesses. there were several elements of tax relief for small businesses in the recovery act. those have been continued. and now yet another effort to provide tax relief to small businesses. if we're talking about investment and infrastructure jobs and in rebuilding schools and high speed internet and putting teachers back to work and putting firefighters back to work, those are not low-paying jobs.

those are well-paying jobs. those are people performing important work. so the kind of jobs we hope to create or preserve are precisely the kind of jobs that we need to stabilize the middle class and to grow our economy. host: i have to ask you about something that has been sliding through the congress and not getting much noise because of the speech. historic pattern reform bill clears the congress. the house has passed the and the senate passed last night. digital supports that -- did you support that? guest: i did. host: tim bishop is a democrat from new york. thank you for taking calls. we continue to look at the president's job proposal and his

speech last night. up next is congresswoman lynn jenkins, a republican from kansas. she represents the to be cut area and she will be out here in just a minute. here's a little more from the president's speech. >> there has been skepticism about this jobs plan. we're seeing the same old press releases and tweets flying back and forth. the meeting is proclaiming it is impossible to bridge our differences. that we can only do this at the ballot box. the next election is 14 months away. the people who sent us here, the people who hired us to work for them, they do not have the luxury of waiting 14 months. some of them are living week to

week, paycheck to paycheck, even day today. they need help -- even day to day. host: lynn jenkins will be out here. louisville, kentucky. caller: i have a statement any question. there are some people for the rich and there are some people for the poor. americans are hurting. we have to remember some of those coal miner wars we used to have back in history. euthanizing -- unionizing those coal miners and those people who were against coal mining. that exists today. people for the rich, people for

the poor. host: gregory in north carolina. hi, gregory. caller: i do support president obama. what i was listening for was something that he initially brought forward, which is when the one for president in the for splice-- renewable fuel and shifting the paradigm from fossil fuels to renewable. the other thing that i guess nobody will bring up except for me, in my estimation, teachers are important, doctors are important. police, i don't think so, especially with the division of motor vehicles. for every job in a given a cop, that is what they will

focus on. riot act, homeland security -- there is a lot of money there. you can give the corporations their tax cuts and you don't have to touch security and give people health care and boost the economy. host: thank you for calling and this morning. now joining us in lynn jenkins, a republican from congress -- kansas. i want to start with an editorial in "the new york times." "an aggressive president at last

challenges the defeat-everything congress." guest: thank you for having me. i am puzzled by that headline given that the house is the only one that has done their job this year. the senate has not passed a budget in over 800 days. the house went about their business, passed a budget, and it was defeated in the senate on a straight party-line vote. we have gone about the business of appropriating our money. we're almost through the appropriations process. the senate may be has taken up one of 12 appropriations bills. we have had numerous job creations bills over to the senate, all lie on the floor of the senate. they have not picked them up or they have been defeated.

we have been saying yes to a lot in the house, primarily focused on job creation and getting this economy moving again while reining in the fiscal mess that is in washington. so to say that the house is saying no has been an accurate statement. host: mr. anything president said last night to you agree with -- is there anything the president said last night that you agree with? guest: we can pass several pieces of legislation where we have common ground. one is in the area of free trade. we have grown wary of backing the president to send it to the three pending free-trade agreements. free trade agreements worked just the opposite of what

normal legislation does. it originates in congress and is sent to the president for a signature. the president has had them lingering in his office for over two years. he just has to send those backed. there is broad bipartisan support in the house and senate to ratify those. that is 250,000 jobs immediately that we can get moving. all he has to do is send them up. that would be a good start. host: what about his spending proposals. extending unemployment benefits and construction for schools and infrastructure. where do you stand on those issues? guest: there is a role to play at the federal level. most people see that spending is our first priority to protect

us. infrastructure is probably second. the stimulus plan is unlikely to fly in the house given that if all he had to do was spend the money and we were have zero unemployment, we would be there already. we are $14.3 chile in debt -- trillion in debt. we should focus on the barriers to job creation, be regulation, litigation and those need to be the areas that we focus on, so we'll have that discussion in the weeks to come. host: lynn jenkins, republican from kansas. we continue our discussion on the president's job proposal

that introduced last night. pat is a republican in new jersey. caller: good morning. thank you for your show. i would like to know what the first lady was sitting with the after so many jobs just went overseas. how can you give a speech in two parts? you are going to define the problem. you're going to give a solution. then we have to wait a week for how we're going to pay for this? i have been a democrat for many years until maybe two presidents ago. guest: well, pat, thanks for the call. i thought it was an interesting call to have the ceo of g.e. to

sit with the first lady. tax reform is so necessary in our economy today. i think if the democrats in the senate would meet with the republicans on the architectural structure for a tax reform, we could become competitive once again by lowering the rate to the top 25% of individual and corporate so we can compete internationally. we have the highest corporate tax rate is the world. and so we have passed a fundamental tax reform structure within our budget to address this issue. it was to eliminate the loopholes at the top, the americans that do not pay any

tax and put them back on the rolls. g.e. is using lucrative loopholes to zero out their income. you mentioned the pay fors for the president's speech. he would not say how he wanted to pay for that. i think there will be some push back in the house. members of the joint select committee, their assumption was deficit reduction. they have been charged with paying for yet another stimulus program. i think you'll see some objection to that. host: you are a certified public accountant and former state treasurer and a member of the ways and means committee. helpless complain how -- we hear reports about g.e. not paying

income tax. you say we have the highest corporate income-tax rate. how does that -- guest: it is the tax code that we have. we need to change the tax code. it is like 10 times the size of the bible with no good news and think that is accurate. we need to start over. the republicans in the house have that architecture structure within the budget document and it was revenue neutral. the way it was done back 1 in 1980's.he the growthe you get and it is our belief that if the senate would meet us at the

table to handle that, would be happy to do with it. host: i want to show this picture from "the washington post." this is an issue that is close to your heart. guest: i am on the heat team. we have been working on a comprehensive energy package. that is teed up for the house to address this fall. there is a comprehensive bill. there are lots of other bills that would need to address once and for all. in the last congress, it was my first term. nancy pelosi teed up the cap and trade proposal. democrats in the senate would

not along with that. this is long overdue. we need to address the energy issue. host: alison is in atlanta. you are on with, lynn jenkins is woman -- congresswoman lynn jenkins. caller: the president did a good job laying out his plans, where he has been stalled so many times by the republicans. people should realize that the people that were involved in the s&l scandals are corporate criminals that have used the republican party to raid the federal treasury, and they are doing everything they can to stall the economy, massive layoffs would budget cuts, cutting out jobs. we of teachers and firemen laid- off.

they are doing this to make the country's miserable. oil companies and big wigs -- deregulating laws, rating the federal treasury at the expense of the taxpayers to pay off the bankrupt -- the investment that an economic slide -- the small town republicans that a vote for them used bigotry to try to blindside what they have --ndonone guest: i can tell that we will disagree. i'm a small-town kansas girl and i don't think we're ignorant or

bigoted. i don't think she has a sense that the president has proposed numerous things to congress and we have rejected them out right, when in fact if he produces a bill, this will be the first time he has put his ideas on paper. the congressional budget office said, we cannot have a speech, mr. president. this would be the first time we would have an opportunity to address an issue that the president brought to us. she mentioned the s&l crisis and the scandals. unfortunate, the last congress, the dodd-frank bill was signed into law, which did nothing to address the real issue at hand, which was freddie and fannie. it has created quite a burden for our small town main street

financial institutions that did not create the problem, but are being punished. a lot of them are being forced out of business. i would just disagree with that caller. host: what is the, like in kansas' -- what is the economy like in kansas' second district? guest: our unemployment is not what it is at the national level, but folks in kansas are hurting. we have producers that are tough old birds and they are holding their own. we are home to a loss of aircraft manufacturers and that is a tough business right now. we, too, are looking to washington to create the right environment so that the private

sector can create the jobs and we can grow our way out of this mess. host: eva in athens and, georgia. caller: i have a couple of things -- i am tired hearing about -- 90% of our people are employed. i am 90%-full type person. i have yet to see any football stadium and the anywhere. none of it is empty. i look at the professional games. the skyboxes are fall.

where is this money coming from? that's like a red flag. when they are empty, i will believe we are in trouble. guest: i think she has a point. i think the american people have set their priorities, as they do. i think that is why the personal debt of individuals is probably at an all-time high, because like many folks across the nation, washington is no different. we've been living beyond our means. i think she has a point. we continue to live high on the hog. it is time washington balance its budget and started living within its means. many families are going to have

to make those tough decisions and maybe forgo some of those sporting event to do the same thing. host: we have some facts and figures from the u.s. department of labour on the unemployment situation. 13 million americans are unemployed -- 14 million americans are unemployed. host: the president called for summer jobs program. what do you think of that? guest: i think the key is not to throw money at a problem. the key is to solve the problem.

the problem is right now the country cannot afford to hire additional police because of the barriers for job creation. they are not competitive internationally on the income taxes. i understand common-sense regulation is necessary. i hear some businesses day in and day out that many of these regulators weather is the epa, usda, hud, they are too aggressive and they are putting people out of business. folks are concerned about litigation. so you cannot pay higher taxes and hire additional employees if you're a small business on main street. you'll do one of the two, not both.

i think employers are paralyzed. they are not willing to hire someone with the anticipation that the health-care proposal will come into full implementation in a few years. that will cost them. there is always a threat that the administration will raise their taxes. so they are sitting and waiting for some certainty. once we can give them that certainty and make some reforms that are more business friendly, we will see the issue of unemployment for teenagers and women and everybody resolved host:. nathan from kentucky on the republican line. caller: i have a couple of comments about another stimulus plan. we have already bailed out the banks a couple times.

we bell about the auto industry a couple of times. what the wheat belt the small citizens -- why don't we bail out the small citizens? you would spread that now into about one thousand millionairespe per state. spreading the money across the united states. all those people will be buying new cars. they would be buying all the other stuff that they have never been able to afford. it would stimulate our economy faster than anything else. host: lynn jenkins. tost: i'm never opposed taxpayers keeping more of their money. but to bail anyone out at this point is not really feasible.

the government is broke. we have spent $1.5 trillion. we have a national debt of $14.5 trillion. the last stimulus money was thrown at folks and they pay off their debt or they put it in the bank so that could saveit. it. that did nothing to stimulate the economy. i am not eager to sign up for more debt and more deficit spending at the federal level on a program that had been proven not to work. host: richmond, virginia, sharron on our independent line. you're on the air. caller: i wish i could hear the

republican leaders in congress stand up and say that the deficit that we are facing didn't just pop up when barack obama took office. it has been going along for years and years and years. i wish i could hear them say this is not a problem that can be fixed overnight. it will take years and years for this problem to be fixed. i wish i could hear the republican leaders instead of always saying, why did the president put forward and try to find some common ground on whatca can work. i am tired of all the petty -- "if i cannot have my way, i will not do anything at all." guest: i may surprise her.

the deficit did not pop up overnight. that was the reason i ran. they spent too much money. in my first term, the democrats took the deficit that republicans were running annually and made them a monthly deficit amount. now we find ourselves in a divided government. now we're expressing frustration with gridlock. if it is any help at all, i agree. there's enough blame to go around at both parties for the mess that we find ourselves in. it's not going to be overnight. it took decades to make the mess. it will take a few years to fix a mess. house republicans have put out a budget that gets us a balanced

budget and eliminates the debt over time. at least we have a plan to do that. the president and the democrats in the senate do not. i hope we will work in the coming months to find the common ground. the free-trade agreement -- if the president is serious about regulation reform and about tax reform, then we are in business. host: lynn jenkins served as kansas state treasurer, overlapping kathleen sebelius' term as governor. this news from "the hill" newspaper.

guest: what you did not read -- my understanding is they were dismissed on procedural point that had nothing to do with the actual case at hand. and so i think the last time a court has ruled on the merits of the case was in atlantic, and they ruled it was unconstitutional. so i think we can probably be certain is that at some point the united states supreme court is going to be asked to rule on this. i am not a constitutional attorney. i understand that there is a 50-

50 chance it could be deemed unconstitutional and replaced with something that better addresses the issue at hand, which is the out of control costs in the health-care system. it is unlikely that that is going to change unless some faces change in washington. host: have you seen the governor sebelius since you have been in washington? guest: i have. we have about five minutes left before the house comes into session. mary. caller: i need someone to help. the president has proposed the job stimulus. i am wasting my life. i've been unemployed since may of 2008.

i cannot spend money or save money and i cannot pay my bills. this is important. i have been turned down for so many jobs because i have bad credit. the i never had credit since i lost my job. my life is being wasted. i'm living with family and friends. somebody gave me a gym membership. there is a woman i exercise what that is 87 years old. she worked to states to work at a hamburger place. i say, why do you work up there? she says she works because she is bored. why don't you give up your job to somebody who is getting

nothing? i'm getting absolutely nothing. guest: she is expressing a frustration that i hear. there was a jobs fair in kansas last week. we had 1100 people into big, kansas -- in topeka, kansas, just like this woman, looking for work. we had jobs available from employers that set up tables. the key is to find the right employer for the right employee and getting that match made. i would encourage her not to give up. we cannot give up. americans just keep going. and if washington will do the right thing and create jobs,

then we will give this unemployment situation under control. host: a democrat from long branch, new jersey. caller: i wanted to say president obama inherited two wars he did not start. i would like to know how much doubt much is adding to the deficit. we have a huge base realignment under the republican administration. billions of dollars over the estimated cost. i would like to know how much that is contributing to the deficit. host: we have to leave it there. guest: i appreciate you being here. the department of defense budget is 20% of the budget. that is not the cost of the war. i think the president is going to be addressing that issue. thank you for having me. thank you for having me.